my editing mode (x-ray activated) is not allowing me to see the reference behind. the edges are thick black and faces are white. any suggestion?
If you see your mesh white while x-rays enabled means your shading mode may be in solid. Try to switch in wireframe shading with x-ray enabled.
Edit: If some faces look different in X-rays, you can also try to Recalculate normals (Ctrl+Shift+N).
You can quickly change shading with Z key, while Alt+Z will toggle x-ray